2Pe 1:5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
2Pe 1:6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
2Pe 1:7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
2Pe 1:11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that WE can be diligent to make our call and election sure. This is plain counsel from a pastor to his flock, from a teacher to his congregation. We should take it seriously and do it. We do it by taking on that character of Christ, putting off the old man and putting on the new man through faith and obedience. But now how do we reconcile this with certain understandings of Romans 9:16?
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Which is it? Can we be diligent to make our calling and election sure, or are all such efforts irrelevant, because it is God who does it all by his mercy, and all our own efforts are irrelevant are only “second causes” at best, or futile at worst?
If you look at the context of Romans 9:16 it is talking about God's choices of nations, not about individual salvation. For although it was said in relation to Esau and Jacob that "the older will serve the younger" yet it is a matter of the historical record that Esau the man never served Jacob the man. This was a prophecy in relation to their descendants, the nations of Israel and Edom respectively. In the context, Romans 9:16 is not speaking of God's choices to save or damn individuals.
Romans 9:16 is not sa
Get your free registration and log in to view entire article
Post new comment